Humidity

[ehopkins12]

I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to maintain humidity in a tort table? I spray my Russians enclosure a couple times a day pretty thoroughly but I'm not sure if thats enough or what I can do to improve it. I plan on building another table for a Redfoot soon so I would like to know more for that considering they need higher humidity levels.

 

[chadk]

Pics help. There is a lot to this question that are hard to answer without knowing more.

What substrate do you use for your russian? For russians, ambient humidity is not a concern really (compared to a redfoot), as long as you have good substrate that is holding moisture.

 

[terryo]

How about lots of plants. I put a lot of plants in my Cherry Heads enclosure. I keep them in the little pots they come in and just bury them in the substrate. I only water the plants twice a week, and mist them once a day, the humidity always stays high. I soak the half log in warm water and wet the long fiber moss and squeeze it out and fluff it up in the hide, and the humidity stays high in there too.

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[Maggie Cummings]

Pour water over the substrate then mix it all around. The substrate needs to be moistened first then the spraying will help. Russians don't need a lot of humidity just some, but your Redfoot will need a lot and that starts with a decent substrate.

 

[Tom]

Its so dry in my area that I have to mostly cover the tops to hold in any humidity at all. Maybe a couple of humid hide boxes would do the trick. One on the cool side and one on the warm side.

 

[fifthdawn]

I noticed spraying doesn't help. Like maggie, I also have to poor water all over my enclosure. But thsi depends on your substrate I guess. Cypress mulch holds moisture pretty well, but Sphagnum moss holds it even better. I have both in my enclosure. When I drench it with water, my cypress mulch will stay wet for 2-3 days before I have to resoak. My moss stays wet for almost a week. I usually have mulch all over and moss inside and around the hide area.

 

[tortoisenerd]

For a Russian I agree to have regularly moistened substrate (pour water in and mix, not spray), but not misting. You shouldn't really even need to go the step of covering it unless your room is overly dry. Pyramiding in Russians isn't as common and I've noticed it tends to be more caused by the secondary pyramiding causes such as poor diet. Be careful that you keep an eye on temperatures with a moist substrate as it can get cool. Better to add a small amount of water more often then to let it dry and then have to add a lot (warm water helps too).

 

[webskipper]

Remember, heat holds moisture.

The higher the temperature the lower your humidity gauge will read. So don't get too OCD about maintaining a rainforest. Because when the temps drop, it will feel cold and damp.

I am using both the coconut husk (Eco Earth) and cypress because well, that's what was recommended to me. Overtime I might change it all together and for right now they are working well for the hatchlings.

 

[GBtortoises]

The higher the temperature the lower your humidity gauge will read.

I think you mean "The higher the temperature the higher your humidity gauge will read".

Assuming that we're still talking about how to raise the humidity, not make the air dryer.

The more moisture you add to heat the more humid the air becomes.

 

[webskipper]

Nope. Humidity gauges indicate the percentage of moisture in the air. The more hydrogen hydroxide (H2O) per cubic area the higher the percentage of humidity.

Humidity- a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or a gas.

Were are talking about an open container here. Wet down the substrate and place a thermometer/humidity gage nearby. Observe the gauge first thing in the morning and then at peak warmth. Then report your findings.

Now, in a closed container do the same thing. As the jar cools, the moisture in the air will condensate on the inner walls of the jar and may form large droplets or just fog up the glass. Heat up the jar and the glass will clear. The warmer air will hold the moisture.

Or try this with a beer, under adult supervision of course. The condensation will occur on the outside of the container. At the point where it starts condensing is like the dew point.

Watch the dew points change on the weather reports.

 

[GBtortoises]

Nope. Humidity gauges indicate the percentage of moisture in the air. The more hydrogen hydroxide (H2O) per cubic area the higher the percentage of humidity.

Humidity- a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or a gas.

Were are talking about an open container here. Wet down the substrate and place a thermometer/humidity gage nearby. Observe the gauge first thing in the morning and then at peak warmth. Then report your findings.

Now, in a closed container do the same thing. As the jar cools, the moisture in the air will condensate on the inner walls of the jar and may form large droplets or just fog up the glass. Heat up the jar and the glass will clear. The warmer air will hold the moisture.

Or try this with a beer, under adult supervision of course. The condensation will occur on the outside of the container. At the point where it starts condensing is like the dew point.

Watch the dew points change on the weather reports.

In an open enclosure the humidity level will definitely drop if you apply heat, air or both. If you add moisture but not heat or air you get cold dampness.

If you add heat, humidity and cover it the warm humid air is trapped within the enclosure. As long as the exterior is the same or very close in temperature you'll just have a container trapped full of warm, humid air. Nothing else. You certainly won't have condensation!

If you add moisture to an open enclosure it will remain until warmer air or heat is applied. If you add moisture but no heat that moisture will remain unless it is somehow affected by heat, either from within the enclosure or from the outside of it.

The moisture inside a closed jar isn't condensating because of the cool humid air in the jar. It's condensating because the moisture is trapped within the jar and it's experiencing a temperature difference at the point of contact (the glass). Place the glass in the refrigerator at 42 degrees and then outdoors at 42 degrees and see what you get-nothing. Because the temperature is equal. Condensation only occurs because there is a difference in temperature with moisture present, either in liquid form or within the trapped air and two different temperatures present. The beer can experiment is just an opposite of the jar experiment.

Humidity=The amount of vapor in the air based on a the percentage that molecules of a specific temperature can hold.
That is why essentially, warm air is capable of holding more moisture than cold air, because it contains more working molecules.

 

[webskipper]

Nope. Humidity gauges indicate the percentage of moisture in the air. The more hydrogen hydroxide (H2O) per cubic area the higher the percentage of humidity.

Humidity- a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or a gas.

Were are talking about an open container here. Wet down the substrate and place a thermometer/humidity gage nearby. Observe the gauge first thing in the morning and then at peak warmth. Then report your findings.

Now, in a closed container do the same thing. As the jar cools, the moisture in the air will condensate on the inner walls of the jar and may form large droplets or just fog up the glass. Heat up the jar and the glass will clear. The warmer air will hold the moisture.

Or try this with a beer, under adult supervision of course. The condensation will occur on the outside of the container. At the point where it starts condensing is like the dew point.

Watch the dew points change on the weather reports.

In an open enclosure the humidity level will definitely drop if you apply heat, air or both. If you add moisture but not heat or air you get cold dampness.

If you add heat, humidity and cover it the warm humid air is trapped within the enclosure. As long as the exterior is the same or very close in temperature you'll just have a container trapped full of warm, humid air. Nothing else. You certainly won't have condensation!

If you add moisture to an open enclosure it will remain until warmer air or heat is applied. If you add moisture but no heat that moisture will remain unless it is somehow affected by heat, either from within the enclosure or from the outside of it.

The moisture inside a closed jar isn't condensating because of the cool humid air in the jar. It's condensating because the moisture is trapped within the jar and it's experiencing a temperature difference at the point of contact (the glass). Place the glass in the refrigerator at 42 degrees and then outdoors at 42 degrees and see what you get-nothing. Because the temperature is equal. Condensation only occurs because there is a difference in temperature with moisture present, either in liquid form or within the trapped air and two different temperatures present. The beer can experiment is just an opposite of the jar experiment.

Humidity=The amount of vapor in the air based on a the percentage that molecules of a specific temperature can hold.
That is why essentially, warm air is capable of holding more moisture than cold air, because it contains more working molecules.

That was what was explained. 6 or half dozen of the other.